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Bareilly Ki Barfi
...suffers tremendously from tonal inconsistency. It promises a relentlessly eccentric and zany experience, but doesn’t follow its screwball premise all the way through.
Aug 2017
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Kuchh Bheege Alfaaz
There isn’t much of a plot to stretch over 116 minutes, but there are enough cute moments of youthful angst and Kolkata chic to prevent a total washout.
Feb 2018
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Manikarnika
The Manikarnika production isn’t lavish enough to suggest a grand sweep of history, and the focus on its heroine is too narrow to accommodate a larger conversation about the efficacy of Lakshmibai’s actions. There is plenty of leaping and feinting, but not enough reflecting.
Jan 2019
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Pagglait
...tries to muster up feelings of remorse and loss, but is more comfortable sliding into humour or ladling out the snark.
Mar 2021
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Dabangg
...has some smart writing, many riveting action sequences and quite a few yawn-inducing moments.
Sep 2010
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Airlift
This amazing story needs a second movie, perhaps titled The Real Airlift, which is not in thrall to a single and singular man but acknowledges the hundreds who enabled lakhs of Indians to return home safe. Airlift soars on its own merits, but it is ultimately a flight of fantasy.
Jan 2016
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Raman Raghav 2.0
...might lack the layers needed to be a contemporary update of the serial killer movie, but it has plenty of surface pleasures.
Jun 2016
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Mar 2019
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Hunterrr
...is a comedy about sex rather than a sex comedy, presented with plenty of verve and wit, but also the indulgence of a first-time director.
Mar 2015
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Aurangzeb
This is a movie that aspires to be about the mini-empires that exist within-and often work against-the Indian republic, but it scuttles its own ambitions midway through.
May 2013
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Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi
...has many rough edges, patches of amateurish staging and acting, misguided attempts at humour, and an ear-splitting and disposable Amar Mohile background score, but it is also good-natured, warm-hearted, and finely observed.
May 2014
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Bombay Velvet
The plot is needlessly complicated at the expense of emotion, and assembles a set of well-dressed people who seem to want to go someplace but are not quite sure where.
May 2015
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Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
...neither hitting the highs expected from such an expensive and high-profile project nor the lows that plague mid-career filmmakers. Like its intended audience, the movie sticks firmly in the middle.
Nov 2015
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Aiyaary
...tackles a bold subject, one that is worth exploring alongside the frequent tales of battlefield valour. There is palpable and relatable outrage at the rot within the system, but the response is inchoate and not particularly clever.
Feb 2018
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Bajrangi Bhaijaan
Salman Khan will regard Bajrangi Bhaijaan as a career redefining moment, but his limited acting skills show up in every scene.
Jul 2015
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Force 2
It’s not quite India’s answer to the Mission: Impossible films, but at least on the thrills front, it’s halfway there.
Nov 2016
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Hindi Medium
It’s well-intentioned, often very funny and superbly performed, but ultimately a lesson in overreach.
May 2017
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Hamid
The movie balances simplicity and profundity, and would have benefited from a leaner running time to better convey its ambitious exploration of loss and abandonment in a region stereotyped as a paradise on earth.
Mar 2019
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Chhichhore
The movie begins as a rambunctious college campus comedy, quickly moves into the sentimental family drama zone, returns for the fun and games, shifts back into tear-jerking territory, and finally runs out of breath with only some of its ambitions realised.
Sep 2019
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Shikara
The epistolary device is one of the clumsy ways in which the movie deals with a knotty issue. Chopra, who has written the screenplay with Rahul Pandita and Abhijat Joshi, picks a narrow-angle lens through which to view the Kashmiri struggle.
Feb 2020
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Global Baba
The clarity with which director Manoj Tiwari approaches his subject isn’t always reflected in the overly busy plotting and the choppy narrative. Yet, the filmmaker makes his points adequately.
Mar 2016
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Jolly LLB 2
Despite its liberal and humanist values and attempts to create a convincing portrait of the workings of the Indian legal system, Jolly LLB 2 is frequently guilty of dramatic overreach.
Feb 2017
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Pihu
...Vinod Kapri has delivered a bona fide suspense thriller that doubles up as a parenting lesson. Effective, yes, but also unsettling? Always.
Nov 2018
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De De Pyaar De
The movie barely works as an age-gap saga but is more effective as a comedy about moving on and finding new soulmates. Ranjan and Jain heavily pad up material that is just about enough for an extended sitcom episode with songs, uneven comedy and needless melodrama. Ironically for a film directed by an editor, the pacing is sluggish.
May 2019
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Bala
...extends its leading man’s predicament in more interesting ways, and is an altogether more humorous and layered examination of a widespread problem than Ujda Chaman. And yet, every time Latika appears on the screen, a shred of legitimacy falls to the floor, just like one of the many strands leaving Bala’s scalp at an alarming rate.
Nov 2019
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Tanu Weds Manu Returns
Rai, who also made Raanjhanaa in 2013, confirms his ability to conjure up a convincing small-town milieu characterised by clamour and kitsch, but his tendency to cram his frames with lots of people crisscrossing the screen, overlapping dialogue and insistent background music results in a sensory overdose.
May 2015
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M.S. Dhoni
There is a test-match quality to the efforts taken to highlight every bump and curve on the way of the journey of a quick scorer. Yet, Dhoni remains an enigma.
Sep 2016
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Aug 2017
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Feb 2019